Trails to Gold: Vol.2, Roadhouses of the Cariboo

Kerry Abel is a professor of history at Carleton University. She is the author of Drum Songs: Glimpses of Dene History, co-editor of Aboriginal Resource Use in Canada: Historical and Legal Aspects, and co-editor of Northern Visions: New Perspectives on the North in Canadian History.

Following the discovery of gold in the British Columbia interior in
1859, dozens of entrepreneurs began to arrive to make their fortunes by
providing services to the argonauts. In the end, it was probably these
businessmen and women who left the longest-lasting legacy, with their
farms, ranches, and families forming an oasis of stability in the
shifting sands of the rush. Amply illustrated with maps and period
photographs, this well-researched book details the many stopping places
that were built along the old Cariboo Road and its associated trails.

These places ranged from four-storey hotels to ranch houses with a
single guest room. None was very grand or of much architectural interest
(most, in fact, were little more than log cabins), but clearly they were
important in the minds of the lonely miners who frequented them for
companionship. Two of the roadhouses now form part of provincial parks.
The stories of their owners provide some intriguing glimpses into the
social life of the frontier from the 1860s to the 1950s.

The author’s general purpose is not to provide a local history as
such (the book lacks a narrative thread), but to reconstruct the
histories of particular buildings. Perhaps best read as a travel guide,
Trails to Gold would make an ideal companion on an automobile tour along
Highway 97.